Blue (and green) Moon
by Tatzelwurm
Summary: Mabel says she's finally going to get a boyfriend. Dipper's not so sure. But when a new kid, with an odd family and mismatched eyes comes to town, things start looking up. Maybe this guy will be the one. It's hard to tell though, with all the craziness of a spate of animal attacks in the town. But the new kid couldn't have anything to do with that. Right? OlderTwins LGBT Themes OC
1. Chapter 1

"Y'know what Dip? This is it, this is my summer, I can just feel it! I am ready, I am fired up, I'm so gosh darn PUMPED! Can you feel it? Dip? Dip, it's my summer. Can you feel it? Dipper?" Mabel Pines was bouncing around the gift shop of the Mystery Shack, practically ricocheting off the walls. Her loud, overenthusiastic voice was more than a little grating in such a small space. Behind the counter, her twin brother, Dipper, pulled his cap lower over his face and tried harder to ignore her. Unfortunately, this only seemed to spur her to be more energetic. In two bounds she had crossed the shop and bent down in front of him.

"Are you listening Dip?" She asked sternly, lime green manicured hands on her hips. Dipper, who was pretending to read a magazine, nodded vaguely and said, "Yup. Your summer. You're pumped. For some reason." Obviously, this answer was not good enough for Mabel, who reached out and plucked Dipper's blue and white cap off his head. Dipper made a sound of protest and reached for the hat, simultaneously ruffling his head to make sure he wasn't suffering from hat hair. But Mabel didn't return the hat, instead placing it atop her own head of thick, brown hair, and skipping back across the shop, wristfuls of bangles jangling.

"My summer is right Dip." She stopped and spun on him, pointing furiously. "And can you tell me _why_ it's gonna be my summer?" Dipper didn't answer immediately, busy trying to flatten his hair down over his forehead to hide his birthmark. "I don't know, Mabel, you're gonna get another pig? You're gonna try convince Grunkle Stan to let you drive his car?"

"No!" Mabel yelled, and pushed a snow globe off a shelf for effect. Dipper lowered his hand from his hair and said, "You better clean that up before Grunkle Stan sees." But Mabel wasn't paying attention, lost in her own world of wonder. Her eyes were sparkling, her green painted nails were sparkling. Even the rad skateboarding unicorn on her magenta sweater was sparkling.

"No, Dipper. None of those silly things, you silly, silly brother." Mabel spun in an elaborate circle before exclaiming, "This summer, I'm going to get a boyfriend!"

Dipper was rather unimpressed. He leaned back against the wall behind the counter, arms crossed. "Mabel, you say that literally every summer. And literally every summer you end up going home lamenting all the failed romances you had. I don't wanna sound mean, Mabel, but at the same time," he shrugged, "I dunno. Do you want to go through that again?"

Mabel was still spinning in a circle, but came to a slow stop as Dipper's words had a chance to sink in. Dipper watched in mild concern, worried that he'd upset his sister. Then, without warning, Mabel pounced across the room and grabbed him by the shirt collar, eliciting a rather unmanly yelp from his mouth.

"You don't understand Dip!" Mabel said in mad desperation, "I absolutely, truly, honestly _need_ to get a boyfriend this summer." Releasing her brother, who had been scrabbling helplessly at her gripping hands, Mabel jumped to point at a ratty calendar hanging on the wall beside the till. "Two months Dipper." She said, "Two months until we turn seventeen, and I have still not had a proper boyfriend." She shook her head solemnly, "Things aren't looking good. I need a boyfriend and I need one this summer. So." Mabel's bright smile returned to her face as she said, "I'm gonna get one!"

Dipper leaned forward across the counter and plucked his cap off his sister's head. "Alright Mabel. Whatever you say." Mabel stuck out her tongue haughtily and said, "Just because you're a major grump cuz Wendy's not around this summer, doesn't mean you have to rain on my boyfriend parade Dipper. You can be a rainbow instead. A pretty, pretty rainbow shining your beautiful colours over me and my man."

Dipper rammed the cap back on his head and said, "I'm not grumpy because Wendy's gone. Whatever. It would have been nice to see her but there's always next summer." Mabel clasped her hands and said angelically, "Oh Dipper. Poor, sweet, hopeless Dipper. You never know. Maybe this will be your summer too. Maybe you'll get your own girlfriend parade. You never know."

Dipper rolled his eyes but gave his sister a not very hopeful half smile. "I doubt it Mabel." He said as she wandered over to peer out the window of the gift shop door. "Relationship opportunities don't just pull up magically in front of your house."

But Mabel smacked the glass of the window excitedly and said, "OH. MY. GOSH. An amazing relationship opportunity just pulled up magically in front of our house!" Dipper, wearing a look of confused incredulity, stood up and went to join his sister. "What the heck are you talking about Mabel?" Mabel didn't answer, too happy babbling unintelligibly to herself as she stared out the window. Dipper squished himself in beside her and looked for whatever it was that was making her so happy.

A slightly muddy minivan had pulled up on the patch of grass that served as the Mystery Shack's parking lot, and a family had piled out of it. There was a black haired man there, clearly the father, who was grinning and slapping his kids on the back and all round trying to make them have fun. Leaning against the back of the minivan was a girl, older than Dipper and Mabel, maybe nineteen. She had a wild black ponytail of hair, and she stared up at the Mystery Shack with disdainful eyes. A younger kid, a boy of maybe twelve, was running around his family excitedly, an enormous grin on his slightly manic face. The last kid was another guy, and clearly the one that had Mabel so excited. He looked to be about the same age as the twins, all lanky and awkward and I-stay-inside-playing-video-games-all-day pale. He too had a mop of curly black hair and he looked thoroughly unenthused to be there, and somewhat terrified.

Mabel nearly fell over backwards as the family began to make their way towards the Mystery Shack. "Oh gosh, oh gosh, a cute, and also way-in-my-league-because-he-looks-really-socially-inept boy! Ok Mabel act calm." She said, in almost screeching terror. Dipper watched her as she ran in small, panicked circles. "Oh what do I do, what do I do?" Dipper reached out a hand, and grabbed Mabel by the back of her sweater, stopping her panicked running. "Mabel," he said slowly, "Go get Grunkle Stan and tell him there's customers." Mabel's face immediately brightened. "Yes. Grunkle Stan. Customers. I'm on it." and with that she darted from the shop and into the house, searching for their great uncle.

The shop suddenly mercifully silent, Dipper gave a sigh of relief and turned towards the door, just as the family opened it, and entered the gift shop.

"See?" the man was saying to his kids as they peered uncertainly around the inside of the shop. "Look at this place! All kinds of cool stuff. Look Carrie! Snow-globes!" The girl with the ponytail didn't follow her dad's pointing finger as she said, "Yep, that's great dad. Snow-globes. Why are we here again?"

But Dipper had approached them by this point and in his best salesman voice (which was in fact no good at all) he said, "Hello there, and welcome to the Gravity Falls Mystery Shack, home of wondrous anomalies and abject horror."

The family jumped a little, obviously not having noticed him, and then the younger boy grinned and said, "I love abject horror!" Dipper's smile faltered a little and he said, "Uh… right." There was a brief silence and then the man clapped his hands. "Well then," he said, cheerily, "I would like to book your most mysterious, frightening and scientifically impossible tour, please!"

"Well step right this way, good sir, as I have just the tour for you, for the low, low price of whatever yesterday's tour was plus five dollars." Dipper's great uncle Stan had burst through the door from the house into the gift shops, arms spread wide, fez at a jaunty angle, and a cheesy grin on his face. Peering around him was Mabel, her eyes round and huge and crazy.

Dipper followed her line of sight and his eyes fell on the last member of the family, the only one who hadn't said anything yet. The guy who was about their age looked slightly bewildered in the midst of all the Mystery Shack souvenirs and Grunkle Stan bobbleheads. He was looking down nervously at the shattered snowglobe Mabel had pushed off the shelf earlier. He obviously felt the twins' eyes on him though, because he looked up abruptly, and turned the colour of a tomato. Dipper noticed that he had one blue eye and one green one, which was hardly the weirdest thing that Dipper had seen in his yearly visits to Gravity Falls.

"If you'll just follow me around to the front of the Mystery Shack, we can begin our tour" Grunkle Stan was saying, as he ushered the family out of the gift shop. The awkward boy with the green and blue eyes stumbled a little as his little brother bumped into him. He was determinedly not looking at either of the twins, shrinking down into the neck of his green hoodie as he followed his family back out of the gift shop. When the door clicked closed behind them, a strange sound met Dipper's ears, much like the high pitched whistle of a boiling tea kettle. Frowning in confusion, he turned to Mabel, to ask if she could hear the strange noise.

Mabel was standing with a hand on each cheek, eyes round and mouth wide open. The high pitched noise was in fact coming from her, a shrill squeal that seemed to go on for longer than really should have been physically possible. Dipper raised a concerned eyebrow and said cautiously, "Uh. Mabel?"

At the sound of her brother's voice, Mabel snapped out of her squealing reverie and turned to Dipper, the most joyful possible expression on her face. She grabbed Dipper by the collar of the orange and blue flannel shirt he was wearing, and began to shake him ecstatically, all the while exclaiming, "Oh my goodness, Dipper did you see him? He had like, these hands, and, and cheekbones, and ohmygosh, those eyes." Dipper held onto his hat and tried not to be shaken to death and said, "Yeah, weirdly enough Mabel, those are things that pretty much all humans have. If that's all you look for in a guy then I think you need to raise your standards a little."

But Mabel wasn't listening. She had let Dipper go and was gently spinning around the gift shop in a meandering fashion. "Oh this could be it." she said to herself in quiet reverence, "This could be _the_ guy. Tall, dark and I guess handsome in a kind of listens-to-Modest-Mouse-while-being-too-pale kind of way. And he looked so sad." She once again rounded on her brother, who had been watching her with crossed arms and mild interest. "Didn't he look sad, Dipper?" she barked. Dipper shrugged, "Uh, I dunno. Sad to be at the Mystery Shack maybe."

"This is it, Dip." Mabel said, in a sombre tone, ignoring her twin's voice. "This is my summer."

Dipper stayed in the gift shop while Grunkle Stan took the family on the Mystery Shack tour. Since Wendy was away this summer, it had fallen to Dipper to man the gift shop cash register during the Shack's opening hours. He didn't really mind. He and Mabel had been coming to Gravity Falls every summer for five years now, and in that time, Dipper was fairly sure he'd uncovered almost every mystery and anomaly that the little Oregon town had to offer. Sure, Gravity Falls was still full of magic. But Dipper was used to it at that point. He'd rather earn a little money in the gift shop, than go out searching for gnomes and monsters.

Mabel had vanished about ten minutes previously, intent on prettying herself up for when the family, and more importantly, the kid with the mismatched eyes, reappeared from the door to the museum tour. Mabel's interpretation of prettying herself up involved the application of a lot of very loud, very obtrusive, eighties styled make up. Dipper thought that maybe it would be a little overwhelming for the nervous looking kid, and hoped he wouldn't have a situation where Mabel scared a guy so much that he puked on the gift shop floor. It had happened before, and it wasn't pretty.

Dipper sighed. He felt a little bad for Mabel. Back home, they had friends, obviously, and they were happy. But not like in Gravity Falls. Like Mabel had said, she'd never had a proper boyfriend, and Dipper himself had never had a girlfriend. Back in California, Mabel was just a little too wild, a little too out there. She scared boys away, because none of them could handle her huge personality. And Dipper? Well, girls just though he was weird. Weird Dipper, with that weird hat he always wears, and his weird birthmark and weird obsession with conspiracy theories. Of course, Dipper knew that they weren't theories, they were true, and he'd been living through them every summer since he was twelve. But girls didn't want to hear that. They weren't into conspiracy theories, and they weren't into Dipper.

Dipper knew why coming to Gravity Falls gave Mabel so much hope every year. He felt the same way. It felt like coming home, like their lives in California were some boring office day job, and coming back to stay with their great uncle in the little town in Oregon was who they really were. He and Mabel, they didn't really belong anywhere else. They were weird, and Gravity Falls was weird, and leaving at the end of every summer always left a huge hole in their lives.

Dipper had been repeatedly poking the head of a Grunkle Stan bobble-head when the sound of his great uncle's loud voice reached him from the museum. "And the strange and mysterious box that shall never be opened for fear of what's inside it, even though it looks like a totally regular box is the final stop on our tour. Now, please proceed to the gift shop and spend all your remaining money on useless trinkets!"

The curtain to the museum was pulled open, and the family appeared back in the gift shop, being led by Grunkle Stan and the father. "Y'hear that kids!" the dad said cheerily, "Everyone go and pick out a useless trinket!"

"YES!" the roar came from the younger boy, who immediately began to race around the shop like a hurricane. The girl with the ponytail rolled her eyes and said, "I'm gonna go wait in the car." Before sauntering from the gift shop. Meanwhile, the dad began to have a very in depth conversation with Grunkle Stan about the merits of owning a business. Dipper could tell that Stan was only having the conversation with the man because he thought that he might be able to weasel more money out of him that way. Dipper rolled his eyes, and his gaze fell on the nervous kid.

The kid with mismatched eyes was being ignored by everyone else in the room. Dipper watched him as he headed to the snow-globe display, carefully stepping over the broken one on the floor. Dipper watched as he peered at them, before selecting one and picking it up.

Suddenly, an almighty crash made Dipper jump, and he turned to see that the younger kid had knocked over the stand of Mystery Shack greeting cards and bumper stickers.

"Freddie Vanderberg!" the kid's dad growled in anger. "What have I told you about not knocking over stands with greeting cards and bumper stickers on them?!" The young kid grimaced sheepishly and said, "Ooooops. Sorry, dad. Oooooooooops." Freddie's dad, Mr. Vanderberg crossed the shop crossly, and began to pick up the scattered cards. Dipper watched the scene unfold until a nervous cough made him turn back to the register.

The nervous kid was standing there, holding his selected snow-globe in his outstretched hands. "Just this, please." He said. Dipper nodded. "Oh. Yeah, sure." He said, and began to ring the kid up. The kid seemed to be deliberately not be looking at where his cross father was gathering up cards while his brother whined incessantly. He seemed mildly embarrassed by his family. As a means of distraction, Dipper shrugged and said the first thing that came to mind.

"So. You like snow-globes?" the boy jumped a little, startled and then said, "Oh, uh no, not particularly. It's for Carrie, my sister." He nodded in the direction of the door his sister had left through. "She likes to pretend she hates everything but she doesn't. She likes snow-globes."

Dipper gave a half smile as he placed the snow-globe in a paper bag. "My sister's the opposite. She likes pretty much everything in the whole world. I don't know what her opinion on snow-globes is, but she broke one earlier so maybe she doesn't like them much. That's funny."

The kid kind of made this weird expression like he was trying to smile, but didn't know how, and said, "Yeah, funny."

"Alright!" The booming voice came from Mr. Vanderberg, who had finished cleaning up the mess that his younger son had made, "Freddie, Bo, we gotta go. Still loads of boxes to unpack. Roll out boys." With that, he marched from the shop, trailing Freddie behind him. Dipper held out the paper bag to the boy, who he now knew was called Bo, and said, "Your sister's snow-globe." Bo nodded, "Yeah, thanks. Uh, cool place. Although I think architecturally it more closely fits the definition of a cabin, not a shack. I guess Mystery Cabin doesn't sound so good though."

With that, the boy turned and left the gift shop, leaving Dipper alone with Grunkle Stan, who was busy leafing through the small wad of bills he'd swindled off of Mr. Vanderberg. "I hope you charged him extra for that snow-globe, Dipper. I see he broke one." Dipper shook his head at his uncle and said, "That was Mabel, Grunkle Stan, not the kid. I didn't overcharge him."

There was a sudden loud clattering from the stairs, which heralded Mabel's arrival into the gift shop. As Dipper had expected, she was wearing copious amounts of glittery, bright blue eyeshadow. When she saw the gift shop empty, and the Vanderberg's mini-van pulling away outside, she let out a horrified gasp.

"No!" Mabel wailed, "My chance at love!" she cast about desperately, before rushing to Dipper with a desperate cry of, "Dipper! Did you talk to him! What's his name? What's he like?" Dipper shrugged, nonplussed. "His names Bo, I think." He said, "He was nice? I guess." Immediately, Mabel looked off into the distance in reverence and whispered, "Nice and called Bo. He's perfect." A look of determination came over her face and she turned to Dipper. "Dipper, this is my summer! I'm gonna make that Bo, my beau, if it's the last thing I do. And you're gonna help me." Dipper surveyed the slightly maniacal look on his twin sister's face with a growing sense of trepidation. "Oh goodie," he said unenthusiastically.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright fellers. It's time to shut ya traps and listen to my plan. You ready for this?" Dipper leaned on the table and rested his chin on a weary hand. "I'm all ears, Mabel. Shoot." His sister clapped her hands ecstatically, almost knocking over her chocolate malt in the process.

The twins were having lunch in Greasy's diner, Waddles happily munching on fries by their feet. Mabel had insisted she and Dipper go there to discuss her next move in the pursuit of romance. It was the day after their fateful meeting with Bo Vanderberg, and Mabel was intent on concocting a plan to woo the boy with the different coloured eyes. Mabel had brought a notebook detailing her plan with her, along with several helpful illustrations. She had also wanted to bring a projector so she could show Dipper a PowerPoint presentation that she had prepared, but he had argued against it, saying they'd never fit the projector on the back of one of their bicycles. He'd won the argument, but only after distracting Mabel with a packet of brightly coloured stickers.

"Ok, now you gotta pay super close attention, because I don't want you missing something and messing up my carefully thought out, incredibly intricately detailed and clever plot." Mabel rubbed her hands together in a way that would have looked slightly evil, were it not for the chubby kitten nail stickers she had applied to her fingers that morning. Dipper rolled his eyes and poked unenthusiastically at his plate of pancakes with his fork. "I'm listening, Mabel, don't worry."

Mabel nodded, satisfied with her brother's answer, and flipped open her notebook. From it, she removed two sheets of paper and placed them in front of her twin. Dipper surveyed them with mild interest. One was a drawing of Bo Vanderberg, dressed as a member of a Mariachi band for some reason, with a doodle of Mabel in the corner, declaring in a pink speech bubble, "BE MINE, OH CUTE BOY!" The second drawing was of both Mabel and Bo holding hands, Mabel giving a huge thumbs up and saying, "THANKS DIPPER!" with a gold star sticker next to the writing. Dipper raised an eyebrow and looked up at his sister.

"How do these drawings explain the plan? And why is Bo Vanderberg dressed like a Mariachi band member?" To this, Mabel shrugged and replied, "Eh, I couldn't think of anything else to dress him in when I was drawing it, and anyway, doesn't he look RAD in it? And obviously Dipper, they're to illustrate how very grateful I will be to you when you help me secure Bo as my boyfriend. Duh."

Dipper lay the drawings back on the table slowly. "Oooookaaaaay." He said, "Well, maybe you can tell me the actual plan now? Or do you have more… helpful drawings to show me?" Mabel shook her head. "Nope… well yeah, but I don't think we have time to look at them all. So I'll just tell you the plan." Dipper nodded in relief and leaned in to listen to his sister. Mabel took a dramatic slurp from her malt before saying. "Alright. Let me lay it down for you. As you may or may not know, a glorious and entertaining fun fair is arriving in Gravity Falls tomorrow, for the fun and enjoyment of the townspeople. Now, I will be using the funfair as a device to aid me in ensnaring Bo Vanderberg with my feminine wiles and charm." Dipper gave an involuntary snort, which he managed to disguise as a cough. Mabel didn't notice and kept talking.

"By my calculations, at least eighty-five percent of Gravity Falls' population will attend the fun fair tomorrow night. I find it highly likely that Bo and his family will be among those numbers, as they live not five minutes' drive from the fair ground." Dipper frowned, "Wait, how do you know where he lives? Have you been stalking him? Mabel we talked about this." But his sister just waved him off dismissively, saying, "Blah, blah, blah, doesn't matter, shut up and listen. As I was saying, Bo Vanderberg will be there, enjoying the amusements, and having an all-round good time, and his defences will be down. Which is when I'll strike, and ask if he wants go on a picnic with us to the lake sometime."

Mabel stopped talking then, and Dipper watched her expectantly for a few moments, thinking she was going to continue her explanation of her cunning plan. But all Mabel did was take another gulp of her malt, and then drop some on Waddles' head while giggling heartily. Dipper shook his head. "Wait, Mabel. That's it, that's your plan?" he asked incredulously, "Go to the funfair, and hope you run into Bo there so you can ask him on a picnic?" Mabel nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! No need to go on and on about how amazing at planning I am, I'm far too modest to listen to that. Or you know, do, I don't mind, it's a free country… oh who am I kidding, go on with the enthusiastic praise, I'm all ears."

Dipper frowned, "I dunno Mabel, it seems to hinge on the possibility that Bo Vanderberg will even be at the fair, which he might not be. And hey, why do I have to go on the picnic with you guys? I'm not the one trying to date him." At his Mabel put her hands together as if in prayer and pleaded, "Oh, please, Dipper, you have to come with. Bo looks nervous, and I'll never be able to make him come out of his shell on my own. Please? And hey, if we don't run into him at the fair, at least we can have a fun evening there by ourselves, and I'll come up with another plan to woo Bo."

Dipper crossed his arms and sighed, before saying, "Alright, I'll help you. But!" he raised one finger, and then pointed at where Waddles sat beneath the table. "We aren't bringing Waddles to the fair. I still remember the time you fed him too much cotton candy and he puked all over everyone on the teacup ride. I don't think we'll ever live that down." Mabel nodded seriously. "Deal," she said, "I don't think Waddles likes the fair that much anymore anyway. Embarrassing memories."

Dipper opened his mouth to reply, but his thought was cut off by the sudden shriek of police sirens from outside. Mabel and Dipper both looked out the window, just in time to see Sheriff Blubs' police cruiser race past at break neck speed.

"Whoa cool," Mabel exclaimed, "I wonder if someone got their head stuck in the slushie machine at the grocery store again? Who did that happen to last time? Oh, wait that was me, oops. Thompson dared me to though." Dipper wasn't listening, pressed against the glass of the window as he watched the cop car race down the street. "Maybe someone died!" he exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm, before glancing around and saying, "Uh, which would be awful. Come on, Mabel, let's go check it out."

Mabel nodded excitedly, and picked up Waddles, before the twins hurried from the diner, Dipper throwing money on the counter for Lazy Susan as they went. Outside, they hurried to where their bikes were parked, Dipper's painted navy, Mabel's more of a glittery rainbow colour with real unicorn hair handlebar streamers. Mabel carefully placed Waddles in her teal bike basket, before the twins hopped on their bikes and began to peddle frantically in the direction of the screeching sirens.

The sounds led them to the main street of town, where they could see a large crowd of people had gathered outside a small grocery shop. "Oh my gosh!" Mabel yelled, "I was right! Someone did get their head stuck in the slushie machine. I bet it was Thompson. Oh, I wish I'd brought my camera."

As they pulled up in front of the store however, it became clear that no one had got their head stuck in a slushie machine. The gathered crowd was whispering in fear, and everyone seemed to be staying a good distance back from the front of the grocery store. Curious, and eager to see what everyone was looking at, Dipper began to push through the crowd, Mabel clutching Waddles to her, not far behind.

The front of the grocery store had had its window smashed and shattered glass was lying all over the road. To one side, the shop keeper was standing, hands over his eyes, a concerned looking Deputy Durland patting his back comfortingly. "I only got here now." The shopkeeper was saying, "It's my wife's birthday so I was gonna open the store late today." Dipper wasn't listening though, eyes focussed on what was lying on the ground in front of the store. Mabel caught up with him, before gasping in horror and covering Waddles' eyes. "Don't look, Waddles!" She cried.

The sidewalk seemed to be covered in what appeared to be a large amount of flesh. Muscle and bone lay everywhere, splattered across the concrete. A rack of ribs leaned against a wall, some liver lay in a pile in the gutter, and strewn along the curb were- "Oh my god, are those intestines!?" Dipper cried in complete horror.

"No, Dipper Pines, those are not intestines. They're a string of sausages." Dipper looked up to see Sheriff Blubs step out of the door of the grocery store. The sheriff raised both hands and said, "Don't be alarmed folks, this ain't the scene of a gristly murder. Windows been smashed and the butcher counters been ransacked is all. Probably the work of vandals. Or wild animals. Or wild vandal animals." He lowered his hands and frowned at the crowd, "Although, I am curious to know why no one reported this until now though. Surely y'all been walking past it all morning."

The crowd was quiet at this, until someone shouted, "We thought it was some kind of avant-garde modern art installation. Sorry Sheriff." Sheriff Blubs glanced down at the meat around him before saying, "I was wondering what it reminded me of. I knew I saw something about an art show like this in New York. Alright, the culprits may also be wild vandal artist animals. Now if everyone could please move back, we have an investigation to begin…"

Dipper rolled his eyes and headed back with Mabel to where they'd left their bikes lying on the opposite sidewalk. As she dropped Waddles back into the basket of her bike, Mabel asked, "Do you think it was really wild artists that destroyed that store. That'd be cool." Dipper shook his head, climbing onto his bike, and said, "Naw. It was probably, like, some hungry coyotes or something boring like that. C'mon, let's get back to the Mystery Shack. I'm supposed to be working in the gift shop at two."

With a last curious glance back at the destroyed store front, the Pines twins kicked off from the tarmac, and began the cycle back to their great uncle's home.

Later that evening, after the Mystery Shack was closed and the Pines family and Soos had eaten dinner and watched Duck-tective together, Dipper went upstairs. He retrieved the journal from where it sat in his back pack, before flicking through it on the off chance he could find information on something that might ransack a store for meat. Nothing seemed likely though, so in the end, he settled on the idea that it had indeed been hungry coyotes or something similar. Probably not wild artists though.

The fun fair arrived the next day, as Mabel said it would, resplendent with its rides and games and grumpy employees. Mabel spent the whole day bouncing off the walls of the Mystery Shack in excitement, unable to decide on an outfit to wear to the fair that evening. In the end, she speed knitted herself a new sweater, a scarlet one that had a light up carnival carousel on the front, with neat little horses embroidered in gold.

"Awesome sweater Mabel, I freaking love carousels." Soos, who would be accompanying the twins to the fair, along with Grunkle Stan, commented sincerely. Mabel beamed and looked down at the little golden horse on her front. "Thanks Soos!" she said, "I would have engineered it so the carousel span too, but I didn't have enough time. Oh well, it'll do." With that she turned to where Dipper was sitting on the back porch and said, "Are we nearly ready to go? I want to put my plan into effect by eight and it's already seven forty." Dipper looked back towards the shack. "I'm ready to go. Just waiting on Grunkle Stan. He's been spending all day trying to figure out a way of cheating all the fairground games so he wins every single one."

"And you'll be pleased to hear that I have succeeded, great nephew of mine." The twins and Soos looked up as Stan appeared at the back door, looking triumphant. "Oh yeah?" said Dipper, "How'd you figure that one out." But Grunkle Stan just snorted and said, "I ain't tellin' you that. There could be spies around, just waitin' to cash in on my genius methods. Now come on. I got some prizewinnin' to do."

The four of them piled into Stan's car, and began the trip down to the fairground. Dipper noticed Mabel nervously smoothing the front of her sweater over and over again as she stared out the car window, and felt kind of bad. He hadn't really been that supportive of her plan thus far, and it was clearly important to her. Dipper nudged his sister with his elbow and said, "Hey." Mabel looked up at him, a pretend calm expression on her face and said, "Yeah?" Dipper smiled and replied, "You got this, you know? He'll like you?" Immediately, Mabel grinned and said, "You think so? He won't… he won't get freaked out and puke like the others? He won't think I'm too weird?" Dipper shrugged, "Nah, of course not. There's no such thing as too weird."

When they got to the fairground, Grunkle Stan parked the car illegally across two disabled parking spaces and climbed out. "Here we are kids," he said, hands on hips, and chest puffed out. "The glorious battleground that is the funfair. Look at all those games. All those prizes. I can taste the sweet, sweet victory already." With that, he marched off into the crowds at the fair, determined to win.

"YAY FAIR!" Mabel yelled, before grabbing both Dipper and Soos by the wrists and running into the colourful, brightly lit array of rides and balloons.

They spent the next half hour or so going on every ride they could think of. Mabel devoured a family size bucket of candied popcorn on her own, Soos got scared by a clown and vanished, screaming, into the crowd at some point, and Dipper was fairly sure he'd seen an actual werewolf in the haunted house train ride. All in all they had a good time.

The sun was setting and they were on their way to ride the Ferris wheel when Mabel let out a loud gasp of awe, and pointed with a shaking finger. Looking up, and following her point, Dipper saw Bo Vanderberg, looking worried and slightly lost, standing between the carousel and a duck shooting game. Quickly, Dipper pushed Mabel's hand down and said, "Don't point, you gotta act chill." Mabel gripped her brother's sleeve in terror and whispered, "Oh I dunno if I can do this, Dipper. I'm so nervous." But Dipper only frowned sternly at her. "Don't be silly Mabel, of course you can do this. I'm with you. Come on, let's go… woo… this dude together." And before Mabel could change her mind, he grabbed her arm and set about marching to where Bo was standing, looking rather out of place amongst all the fun.

"Bo Vanderberg?" Dipper called, and was rewarded with Bo jumping massively in shock, and staring at them with terrified, round blue/green eyes. Dipper let go of Mabel's arm to raise his hands calmingly. "Oh whoa, sorry." He said, "Didn't mean to make you jump." When he realised he wasn't being yelled at, or attacked, Bo relaxed a little, though not much. "Oh." He said, "Hi. You're the kid from the tourist trap yesterday."

Dipper smiled warmly, "Yeah that's me. I'm Dipper Pines. This is my sister, Mabel." He shoved Mabel out from behind him, and gave her an encouraging nudge. "Hello." Mabel said, grinning a little too widely. Bo blinked a little and then said, "Hi…" he glanced between the carousel next to them, and Mabel's sweater. "Uh, cool sweater." Mabel giggled and said, "Thanks, I made it myself." Bo stared at her like he wasn't quite sure what to make of her and said, "Huh. Ok. That's… a hobby. Cool."

This wasn't going well. Feeling the need to save the situation, Dipper cleared his throat and said, "So, you just move to Gravity Falls? How do you like it?" Bo still looked a little confused as to why they were talking to them but responded, "Um, yeah. It's… it's a place to live. I like the… trees. Lots of trees." Dipper nodded, "Yeah, it's pretty cool. We come here every summer vacation. Haven't got bored of it yet." Bo smiled, a tiny bit, still bemused and said, "Well, that's reassuring. Don't wanna be bored, that's for sure."

Almost immediately, Mabel cut in, her courage seeming to return. "Oh, speaking of not being bored, and doing fun things and making friends/girlfriends and stuff, Dipper and I were wondering if you wanted to come with us for a picnic at the lake tomorrow?" At this request, both of Bo's eyebrows flew up his forehead, as though he were surprised that anyone would ask him anywhere. "I…" he started, seeming uncertain where to go with his sentence.

"Bo? Hey, over here!" At the sound of someone else calling his name, Bo looked around, as did the Pines twins. Carrie, his older sister, was waving at him, as she approached, along with her dad and other brother. Freddie Vanderberg looked a little pale and was missing the hyperactive pep he'd had the day before. Bo seemed relieved to see his family. "Jeez, there you guys are." He said, "I was looking everywhere for you." His dad smiled and said, "Sorry son, the excitement of the fairground took over. A little too much I think. Freddie's not feeling well. Neither am I to be honest. Carrie?" The only Vanderberg girl crossed her arms defensively and said, "Whatever." But she did look a little green.

Bo's eyes flicked between each of his family members. "You guys might be coming down with something. We should get home." But Mr. Vanderberg held up a hand. "Not until you introduce us to your friends here." Bo frowned in confusion, before realising his dad meant the twins. "Oh. This is Mabel and Dipper Pines. They come to Gravity Falls every summer."

Mr. Vanderberg stuck out a big paw and shook the twin's hands in turn. "Nice to meet you kids. I'm Michael Vanderberg." He said, "You've met Bo. These are my other two, Carrie and Freddie." Carrie cast a bored eye over the twins and said, "Hi, I guess." And Freddie turned greener and said, "Dad, I'm gonna ralph, I ain't even joking."

Bo clapped his hands together and said, "Ok, on that note, we should probably be going. Don't wanna give Dipper and Mabel whatever bug we have." He began to usher his family away, herding them towards the exit. A look of panic came over Mabel's face and she called, "Wait!"

Bo looked back, a questioning and slightly impatient look on his face and Mabel said, "The lake. A picnic. You coming?" Bo glanced away briefly as Freddie gave a sickly groan. "Uh, yeah sure. The lake. Totally." The kid with the different eyes said, before hurrying away after his family and vanishing into the crowd. The twins were silent for a few minutes, watching after where the Vanderbergs had vanished. Then Mabel let out an ear piercing shriek, causing Dipper to jump about a foot in the air. "He said yes, he said yes!" Mabel began to trill happily, and Dipper found that he had to smile. "He sure did Mabel. Good job." He shook his head, incredulous. "I can't believe that actually worked."

There was little time to celebrate however, as at that moment, Grunkle Stan appeared from among the attractions, arms full of stuffed animals and other prizes. He spotted the twins and yelled, "Run, kids! They're onto me, we gotta get outta here!" And indeed, he was seemingly being chased by several security guards, none of whom looked particularly happy. Grunkle Stan took off running, leaving a trail of stuffed animals behind him. One of the security guards pointed and said, "There he is! And those kids, they're his accomplices. Get 'em!" Then several of the guards produced Tasers from their belts.

"I think we should run now." Dipper said casually. Mabel nodded "Yeah, good idea. If they Taze me, they're gonna blow out all the light bulbs in this sweater." Dipper nodded in agreement. And with that, they opened their mouths, and began to scream in terror, before turning on their heels and sprinting after their fleeing uncle.


	3. Chapter 3

Dipper held up a box of animal shaped cookies and said, "These ones? They have kittens _and_ puppies?" Mabel's eyes glittered and she said, "Yes, perfect, I want to let him know I am both a dog person, and a cat person, and also an every animal in the world person." She happily took the cookies from Dipper and dropped them in the cart, where they sat along with the makings of sandwiches, a bag of chips, and a six pack of Pitt Cola.

It was the morning after their trip to the fair, and the Pines twins were picking up snacks for their lakeside picnic. The previous evening had ended surprisingly uneventfully in the end, Grunkle Stan and the kids managing to escape from the fairground's security, after locating Soos and speeding away in Stan's car, which was packed with the stuffed animals that Stan had cheated the fair out of.

They were shopping in the grocery store which had been the scene of the "animal vandals" the day before. The front window was boarded up, and as they approached the till to pay, Dipper heard the store keeper talking to another customer.

"Sheriff said they must have got in sometime during the night, made a mess of my poor meat section." The store owner was saying, shaking his head, "Those darn avant-garde artists, coming in and having a field day." The customer shook her head and said, "Haven't you heard? The cops don't think it's artists any more. Last night, every single homing pigeon in Mr. Talbot's coop got killed! And they don't know what by, only that it tore the poor birds apart." Promptly, the shop keeper noticed Dipper and Mabel waiting and shushed the lady, saying, "Hush now. Not in front of the children."

"We're sixteen." Dipper said flatly, putting his basket on the counter. "What was that about pigeons getting killed?" But the shopkeeper only frowned sternly at him, and began to hastily ring him up.

A little while later, as Mabel was loading their shopping into her bicycle basket, Dipper leaned on the handlebars of his own bike, lost in thought. Mable looked up from packing and asked, "What's wrong, Dip? Sad that my summer romance is well on the road, while yours is getting left in the dust?" Dipper stood up straight and crossed his arms indignantly, "What? No. I was just thinking about the break in at the shop, and the pigeons getting killed. I wonder if something is going on."

At this, Mabel looked dismayed and said, "No, no, no. Dipper, please don't get focussed on some magical adventure, not today. I just really want this picnic with Bo to go well, and for that I need you to pay attention. Please." She looked so worried that Dipper sighed and said, "Alright, I'm focussed on the matter at hand. No investigating possible intriguing paranormal stuff. I promise."

Mabel sighed in relief at this, and the twins climbed on their bikes to cycle to the lake. It was a sunny day, and a warm breeze was blowing over the little Oregon time. Dipper watched his sister as they cycled. She looked happy, and he was glad, but something she had said had stung him a little.

It wasn't like he'd come to Gravity Falls this summer hoping to find a girlfriend. He never did. But at the same time, he thought, it would be nice to have the possibility of having a summer romance. Getting his first kiss. The business with Mermando didn't count, as Dipper had to repeatedly remind Mabel every time she mentioned it, which was still at least once a week. Dipper sighed and focussed on the road ahead of him. Next summer, he told himself. Get kissed next summer.

They made it to the lake in good time, and left their bikes in the bike rack, where Dipper noticed a green mountain bike that he hadn't seen before. Mabel noticed it too. "Do you think that's Bo's?" She asked, with a hopeful expression on her face. Dipper scanned the lake shore and the nearby treeline. "Maybe?" he answered, "But I don't see him anywhere."

Mabel unhooked her basket of food from her bike, and said cheerfully, "Well I'm sure he's here somewhere. Come on, let's go find him." And with that, she set off for the lake shore, Dipper trailing behind her.

There was no sign of Bo by the water's edge, or on the jetty, and Dipper could tell that Mabel was starting to get nervous. "He's probably just late." Dipper said, "He's new here, he might have gotten lost on his way to the lake." Mabel nodded, taking comfort in Dipper's words. "Yeah, you're probably right. I hope he hasn't been kidnapped by gnomes though…"

Dipper "hmm'd" in response, still scanning the tree-lined lake shore for a sign of the tall, nervy kid. He really hoped Bo hadn't stood Mabel up. She had been looking forward to this picnic so much, talking about it non-stop since they had got home from the fair the previous night. She even kept talking about it in her sleep, much to Dipper's dismay; he had ended up spending most of the night with his head under his pillow, silently willing his sleeping sister to stop muttering about how cool she thought heterochromia was.

Dipper did his best not to sigh. If Bo didn't show up, Mabel would definitely be upset. But then again, maybe it would be a good thing if he didn't. Bo Vanderberg seemed nice enough, but he also seemed like a really jumpy, nervy type of guy. Dipper didn't know if he would be able to handle Mabel. She was loud and exuberant and lived her life in a constant state of wonder. Whereas Bo seemed shy, and shrinking, the complete opposite of Dipper's vibrant twin. Mabel was usually good at socialising with people, but Dipper didn't know how she'd fare against someone who clearly wasn't as good at it as her.

Presently, Mabel let out a tiny squeak and nudged her brother. "Look, I think that's him, she hissed, nodding towards the forest near the bike rack. Dipper followed her gaze. Sure enough, there was Bo, tall and gawky, making his way out of the forest and towards his bike. He hadn't seen them yet, but that was about to change as, before Dipper could tell her to stay calm, Mabel had taken off skipping towards the bike rack. Dipper stuffed his hands in his pockets resignedly, and went to follow her.

Mabel managed to recover some calm before Bo noticed her, slowing to a casual walk a few metres away from him. Dipper caught up with her just as she raised a hand and called, "Hey Bo!"

As Dipper had expected, the tall kid nearly jumped out of his skin, looking up at them like he'd just got caught pickpocketing someone. Dipper noticed he was holding a small bunch of flowers, purple ones and white ones, which he promptly put behind his back upon noticing the twins. "Mabel." He said, "Dipper. Hey… how are you guys? Nice day, right?" Mabel grinned and trilled, "It sure is. A perfect day for our picnic, isn't it?"

Dipper saw a brief look of confusion wash over Bo's face, but it quickly cleared, and he said in a mildly panicked tone, "Picnic. Right of course. I agreed to that, didn't I? I mean, of course I agreed to that, who doesn't love picnics? Picnics are just… just the best. Yep." He said this whole little speech in one breath, and then fell silent, blue and green eyes flickering quickly between each of the Pines twins. Dipper didn't say anything immediately, slightly dumbfounded by Bo's panicky, run-on sentence. Mabel was not similarly staggered, and just smiled happily, satisfied with his answer. "Great!" she exclaimed, "Well, come on then guys, let's get this picnicky show on the road."

Bo gave a shaky smile and said, "Yeah, cool. Let's do that." Curious, and still slightly bemused by Bo's slightly weird behaviour, Dipper glanced at the flowers that Bo was rather unsuccessfully hiding behind his back. "What are the flowers for?" he asked, nodding towards the slightly wilted looking bunch. Bo looked down at the flowers in his hand, as if he had forgotten they were there and then, very slowly, said, "Oh. Uh… These flowers… are for Mabel. Here you go, Mabel." And with that, he held out the sad little bouquet to Dipper's twin.

Glancing at his sister, Dipper saw Mabel's pupils dilate to massive black discs, as a huge, silly smile almost cracked her face in half. She reached out for the flowers, burbling slightly to herself, and Dipper half expected her to begin puking rainbows. Bo awkwardly handed the flowers off to Mabel, as though giving a steak to a particularly vicious dog. Mabel took a moment to study the flowers, before holding them up in front of Dipper and saying, "Aren't they the loveliest flowers you've ever seen, Dip?"

Dipper raised an eyebrow at the droopy bunch of flowers and said, "They're real great Mabel." Obviously this wasn't a good enough answer for his sister because she said, "Pfft, Dipper's just jealous because nobody ever gives him flowers." Bo shrugged and pointed back over his shoulder with his thumb. "Well, we can go get more from the forest if that's the case, wouldn't want anyone feeling left out." Dipper just rolled his eyes and said, "I don't have an insatiable need for flowers. Let's just go eat lunch, ok?"

As they walked towards the lake, Mabel chattered happily at Bo about what she'd brought for lunch, and how purple flowers were her favourite, because purple was her favourite colour, along with every other colour. To his credit, Bo seemed to genuinely listen to her talk, even if he looked a little bemused by her unending energy. Dipper peered at the curly haired kid as they walked, Bo too busy trying to keep up with Mabel to notice.

Dipper wasn't sure what it was about Bo, but something about the kid with the different coloured eyes felt kind of… odd. Dipper noticed that Bo's eyes were ringed with red, and had dark shadows beneath them, as if he hadn't slept in days. Maybe he hadn't. Dipper wondered why. In fact he wondered why right up until Mabel skipped ahead to lay out the picnic blanket and Bo's head immediately turned to look at Dipper, and he asked, "Are you gonna stare at me for the whole picnic? Because I guess that's cool, but maybe you could try to frown less while you do it? You're making me nervous."

Dipper hastily looked away, and pulled his cap lower over his face, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry man." He muttered, "You just remind me of someone. I was trying to think of who, is all." Bo shrugged, seemingly unconcerned with Dipper's answer. "Sure," he said, "We can go with that, if you want. But I bet you could make up a better reason if you tried." And then he walked to sit down on the blanket, where Mabel was beginning to unpack their lunch. Embarrassed, Dipper slouched over to join them, quiet and chastened.

If Dipper was silent and uncomfortable for most of the picnic, Mabel was the complete opposite, chatty and smiling and oblivious of Dipper's discomfort. She even managed to get Bo to come out of his shell a little, with some questioning that was surprisingly gentle by Mabel standards.

"So where'd you move from?" she asked, as she casually made herself a peanut butter and animal cookie sandwich. Bo, who had been peering curiously into his can of Pitt Cola, looked up and said, "Oh, well, we moved here from Idaho this time." Mabel paused before taking a bite from her sandwich and said, "This time? Do you move around a lot?" Dipper watched as Bo tilted his can of soda back and forth, the peach pit inside clacking against the metal sides of the can. "We didn't use to." Bo said, still surveying his can with feigned interest, "Up until three years ago, I'd lived in North Dakota for my whole life. But then we moved to Montana, then Idaho, then Washington, and now Oregon, I guess."

Dipper's curiosity and incredulity at what Bo had just said broke him out of his awkward silence, and he said, "You've moved through five states in three years? That sounds kind of inconvenient." Bo shrugged, but didn't say anything, spurring Mabel to lean forward and ask, "Why does your family move around so much?"

Bo began to tilt his soda can back and forth a little quicker then, and seemed to not want to look up from where he was staring at the blanket. In what he obviously tried to make sound like a casual tone, Bo said, "Well, my mom died three years ago. And then after that it was kind of hard to find a place that felt like home again. So I guess we'll kind of just keep moving until we find one."

Neither of the Pines twins said anything to that, because really, what can you say in response to something so unabashedly sad and honest. Dipper glanced at his sister, and saw a look of real dismay on her face. Mabel really did hate it when people were sad. Now, she opened her mouth, and in an attempt to return a bit of brightness to the conversation, said, "Well, I'm sure you'll be really happy in Gravity Falls. Dipper and I love it here, we come back here by choice. It's a darn awesome town."

Bo did crack a very small smile at this and said, "Yeah, for real?" Mabel nodded enthusiastically, "Of course. You'll love it here. Gravity Falls… well, it's just magical, really." Dipper's brow furrowed at her words and, in a warning tone, he said, "Mabel." His twin glanced at him, and Dipper shook his head the tiniest bit. They didn't know Bo, not yet. There was no need to spill the beans about the paranormal nature of the town. Bo hadn't seemed to notice the twins' small exchange, lost as he was in some other train of thought. After a moment or two of thinking, he put down his can of soda and said, "Can I ask you guys something?"

Dipper looked away from his sister as she grinned at Bo and said, "Sure, go ahead." Bo shrugged, as though he wasn't quite sure how to say what he wanted to say. Then he said, "This is probably gonna sound dumb, but, have you guys ever noticed anything weird happening in Gravity Falls?"

Mabel opened her mouth to reply, but before she could get a word out, Dipper said, "No. Can't say I have. Just a normal little town, Gravity Falls." Mabel gave him a slightly disgruntles look, but said, "Yeah. Just a normal ol' town." Bo nodded slowly at their answer, and Dipper found that he couldn't tell if the kid believed them at all.

That evening, back at the Mystery Shack, Mabel was almost unbearably cheerful. Bo had agreed to hang out with them again, and was in fact going to go for milkshakes with Mabel the next day. Dipper's sister was thrilled beyond words, and so spent much of the evening doing a glitter art project to express her ecstatic feelings. Meanwhile, Dipper ended up routing through a trunk of old books in the attic, until he found one that he thought might contain the information he was looking for.

Dipper took the book over to his bed and began to flick through it in the early evening light that was spilling through the window. The book was an encyclopaedia of local flora, and he thought that he might be able to find out a little more about the flowers that Bo had given Mabel. The flowers themselves were sitting in a jam jar of water on her bedside table, and Dipper glanced up at them every now and then, using them as a reference as he scanned the pictures of plants in the book.

Mabel was sitting on the floor, working on her art project, and completely ignoring Dipper, right up until he let out a mildly wigged out, "What the heck?" Then she looked up at her brother and asked "What's the matter this time, Dip?"

Dipper didn't answer immediately, too busy looking between the flowers in the jar and the flowers on the page. Then he said, more to himself than Mabel. "Aconite and valerian. Why aconite and valerian?" Mabel frowned at her brother, her interest piqued now, and asked, "What are you talking about, Dipper?"

This time, Dipper registered her words and looked up at his sister, frowning. He lifted the encyclopaedia and flipped it around, showing her the flowers on the page, which were indeed identical to the ones Bo had given her. "The purple ones are aconite," Dipper said, "And the white ones are valerian." Mabel shrugged. This revelation meant nothing to her. "So?" She asked, close to losing interest and continuing with her glitter. "So," Dipper said, leaning forward, "Both of those plants are extremely poisonous. Why would Bo Vanderberg give you a bunch of poisonous flowers?"

Mabel didn't answer immediately, but then she rolled her eyes and said, "Dipper, he probably didn't know they were poisonous. I mean, you didn't, until you looked them up in that book. Why so suspicious of him all of a sudden?" Dipper shrugged, shook his head. "I don't know, Mabel." He said, "Something about him is just weird." Mabel crossed her arms and said, "If you mean his eyes, then I'll have you know that heterochromia isn't as rare as everyone thinks it is." But Dipper shook his head, frustrated. "It's not his eyes, Mabel. They're like the least weird thing about him. I dunno. I just have a bad feeling about him, is all. He feels like bad news."

Mabel sighed then, which was kind of uncharacteristic of her, and said softly, "I understand." Dipper was a little taken aback by this, and said, "You do?" Mabel nodded. "Of course," she said, "You're just looking out for me. You know I've been hurt before and you don't want me to get hurt again. I get it, that's what brothers are for. But Dipper. You gotta trust me. Bo's a nice guy, just you wait and see."

Dipper didn't say anything, and Mabel took this as a sign he agreed with her, and turned back to her glitter. But Dipper didn't agree with her. There was something wrong with Bo Vanderberg, something that he couldn't put his finger on. And Dipper fully intended to find out what it was. Dipper glanced down at the encyclopaedia, at the strange, poisonous flowers his sister had been gifted, and he set his jaw in determination. This summer had been fairly uneventful. It was high time he started a little investigation, and who better to investigate than Bo Vanderberg.


End file.
